The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and magnitude of differences in the practice characteristics of new foreign- and American-educated physicians. It will focus on physicians entering office-and hospital-based practice from graduate training or military service in 1969, and follow these physicians through the succeeding five to six years of their careers. Differences, if any, between the initial practice environments (setting, mode, location, etc.) of U.S. and foreign graduates will be determined, as will any differences in the frequencies of change in practice environment (including change of specialty). Special emphasis will be given to physicians entering practice in the primary care fields. Data for the study will be provided by the American Medical Association from its Master File of Physicians. The major policy objective of the study is to furnish information with which policy-makers may influence the specialty and geographic distributions of new physicians. Foreign graduates currently represent nearly half of all newly licensed physicians, but little is known of their selection of practice environments. The study findings may show that U.S. and foreign physicians are sufficiently similar to permit a single policy to be applied to both. But the findings may show that foreign and U.S. physicians are sufficiently unlike to require a separate policy for each.